A Dodge Family Love Story
by Vess
Summary: Follow Matt and Kitty as they come together as a couple and raise a family while keeping law and order in Dodge and Ford County.
1. Chapter 1

_**Standard Disclaimers Apply**_

_**Chapter 1**_

_**1866, Saint Louis, Missouri **_

Kitty Russell once again found herself being used by some nameless man whose only mission was to satisfy his own needs never once thinking of what she might need. As had become her way of dealing with such situations she lay staring at the ceiling just waiting for it to be over. Wishing just once she could know what it was like to be treated the way a woman should be treated not just something men used to satisfy their urges. Kitty felt the familiar sensation as the man emptied his seed into her and waited for his weight to be lifted off her. Thankfully she didn't have to wait long. She continued staring at the ceiling as he got dressed hoping to be left to the peace and quiet of her room sooner rather than later.

The man walked back over to the bed and laid the money on the nightstand as he reached over squeezing her breast roughly and said " See ya Friday! It's payday and I'm gonna come back and have another go at ya! Maybe even spend the whole night, "before turned and walked out.

" The hell you are, " Kitty said as she heard footsteps walking down the hall.

She got up off the bed and walked over to her dresser and opened the top drawer where she kept her more feminine things and took out the money she had stashed in the bottom of the drawer. She had been saving as much of her money as she could hoping to eventually have enough to make it to San Francisco for even though she hadn't always had pleasant memories of her previous time spent there she had found San Francisco to be a place she dearly loved and could see herself settling down there. Well she didn't care at the moment where it took her as long as it got her out of here and away from this life.

****M&K****

_**1866 Dodge City, Kansas**_

Matt Dillon read over the letter he had received not even an hour prior, wondering what it could mean. He knew that as acting marshal he was required to follow orders and go to Topeka like the letter said, but he just couldn't think of any reason for it. As far as he knew there weren't any trials coming up where he was needed to testify, and he hadn't been notified of any prisoners scheduled to come in, so it was altogether a mystery why the War Department wanted him to meet with their representative. The thought suddenly occurred to him that maybe as acting marshal they wanted some input into who he thought should be considered as Josh Stryker's replacement before they made a final decision. There were a few men he thought would be perfect for the job and would have no trouble recommending, especially those he had worked with previously. Matt felt a pang of regret at the thought that he would soon have to hand over the badge he was growing accustomed to wearing. He had known from the beginning that it was only temporary but it still didn't make the thought any less grievous.

****M&K****

**1866 Dodge City, Kansas**

Doctor Galen Adams, Doc to those who knew him, walked down the thirteen rickety stairs that lead up to his office. His little black doctoring bag firmly in his left hand as he slowly but steadily climbed down the stairs. His pace wasn't hurried in the slightest as he took in his surroundings, constantly looking around. It was a sight better than the wilds of Montana territory. It wasn't as civilized as Saint Louis or New Orleans, or even Richmond. Dodge City still had a notorious reputation for being wild and unruly but thanks to lawmen like Matt Dillon it was starting to get tamed down and wasn't nearly as bad as it had been a year ago.

He shuffled his way across the rough slab-boards that were the starts of makings of the boardwalk towards the Texas Trail saloon, as he remembered the first time he had ever met Matt Dillon. Matt was just a green kid fresh from the war with a chip on his shoulder about doctors in general.

Doc didn't blame Matt for having that chip on his shoulder, he supposed if he had gone through what Matt had gone through he would have had a chip as well. It had been two months of knowing Matt Dillon when the truth of why Matt had a chip on his shoulder about doctors came out thanks to two bottles of whiskey and a bank robber's bullet.

_Matt sat up in Doc's office getting a bullet dug out of his arm that the so called bank robbers had put in there. He refused to let the doctor give him anything for the pain but whiskey as he dug away at the bullet, so he was fully liberated._

"_My ma, and little sister died because of a doctor," Matt muttered in a drunken slur. "If the Doc hadn't of came out to the ranch … they might still be alive," Matt said before he passed out from a combination of the whiskey and the pain. Doc stared at the big man lying there on the table unconscious to anything around him, as he looked over at Chester Goode, Matt's assistant, who was standing there by the doorway. _

"_Well Doc, I guess that's as good enough reason as any to hate doctors," Chester said looking at Doc._

"_Yeah," Doc said with a weary nod of his head. "I figured it was something personal," Doc said. _

"_I don't think it could get any more personal," Chester muttered. _

"_Well help me get him into the back room there to sleep it off," Doc muttered. _

"_Sure Doc," Chester said helping lift the big man up to carry him back into the bed. _

As it had turned out the doctor that had treated his sister for the croup had yellow fever which then gave it to Matt's mother and already weakened sister. After that discovery Doc and Matt had become rather good friends. Doc stood outside the swinging doors of the Texas Trail watching as Matt Dillon got on the stagecoach, Doc hoped it wasn't the last time he would see the big man. "Good luck, Matt," Doc whispered to nobody in particular before he stepped through the doors.

****M&K****

Leona Thompson, stood at the window staring out at the stage that was just getting ready to pull out with one Matt Dillon, deep in thought. _Why did it all have to turn out like this? I swear if I had known when I met him that things were going to be this way I never would have given myself to him that night and I never would have left the trading post. I thought for sure that once he saw how good things could be between us and the kind of life we could have together he would put down that damn badge and settle down, or at least see that he could have both...the badge and the family. Now I know there's not a chance in hell of that ever happening! Not now that he's had a taste of being Matt Dillon, U.S Marshal. It's going to make him even more determined to follow in his father's footsteps. Damn it, if I had just told him...even if it was a little white lie...if only he had thought that he got me pregnant, he would have taken off that damn badge and we could have gone somewhere and settled down and by the time he found out I wasn't pregnant...well it wouldn't have mattered because I would have been Mrs. Matthew Dillon and hopefully there would have been a little one on the way. That's not gone to happen now. Not here in Dodge. Maybe it's time to cut my losses. Maybe one day when Matt Dillon comes home and finds that I'm gone he'll realize that he made the wrong choice by choosing that badge over the love of a good woman._ She'd cut her losses alright, she'd just take Tim Jackson up on his offer and get out while the opportunity presented itself.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N:

First off I hate doing a AN for a chapter but due to some tech issues I feel that it's necessary. I've been without my computer for almost a month now for a simple hinge repair thanks to our wonderful postal customs. I understand the issue of safety. So until I can get the replacement hinge i'm only with an ipad trying to one peck out a chapter and it hasn't been easy as life also has a way of creeping up on us all to remind us it's still out there. I do promise I will continue this story just as soon as I get my computer back. thanks for understanding.

Vess


End file.
